ESPN, Other Disney Networks To Combine TV, Online Ad Sales

Disney today announced that ABC, ESPN and ABC Family will begin to "offer advertisers guarantees for video programming distributed both on television and online." The networks "have adopted the Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings system to measure viewing across both television and online sites," and will base all ad sales on "estimates of what total viewing will be on all those platforms." This will mark a "significant step toward equalizing the business of advertising on television and online" (NYTIMES.com, 3/4).